Six months after the battle of Endor, the war between the Alliance and Empire
continues. In one battle, prestige and the rich planet of Brentaal will belong
to the victor. Rogue Squadron is part of the Rebel task force, while the elite
181st Imperial Fighter Group, Baron Soontir Fel commanding, ensures that the
Rogues do not have an easy time of it. As both sides struggle to prove their
dominance, Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard schemes to take the
Empire for herself . . .

Adrian's Reviewreviewed 1/31/00

The Story
‘In the Empire’s Service’ surpasses all previous X-Wing arcs. It illustrates the
struggle between the Empire and the New Republic particularly well, using the
New Republic offensive against Brentaal, a rich Imperial world. Some of the
Rogues make insightful comments on the situation, unlike Plourr, whose comments
on Fel are somewhat stupid.

Interesting Imperials are featured, primarily Baron Soontir Fel, a virtuous
Imperial fighter ace hamstrung by the intrigues of his superiors. Fel is the
best Imperial character after Thrawn in both competence and interest, and his
basic human decency makes him a nice change. Fel cares for his pilots, and
little things like his referring to his second-in-command, Major Turr Phennir,
by his first name, help show that he is a genuine human being. This is nice to
see, for if every Imperial were like the scheming, incompetent, emperor-wannabes
we have seen so many times before, it is questionable whether even the power of
the dark side itself could have held Palpatine’s empire together for as long as
it did!

Speaking of incompetence, Admiral Lon Isoto, Imperial commander at Brentaal, is
the complete opposite of Fel, and that officers like him could remain in
positions of power goes a good way towards explaining the Empire’s post-Endor
defeat. Another factor particularly relevant to this story was Ysanne Isard, who
sabotages the Imperial defence from the beginning, as she betrays all Imperial
factions to further her own power. The story ends with her position improved,
but her victory comes at a price - the Empire’s defeat.

The Rebels are not quite as interesting as the Imperials in this series. Of the
new pilots who are introduced, it is soon clear which ones will survive and
which will die. Kapp Dendo, the Devaronian special operative from ‘Battleground:
Tatooine’, reappears to carry out an raid against an Imperial facility. His
appearance and the raid seem superfluous to the plot, and was apparently only
included to prevent a story going by without Rogues running about shooting a few
stormtroopers. Also, when some Brentaali children are wounded after a Rebel
assault shuttle is shot down into a school, an ideal opportunity is offered for
the Rebels to question their actions, to consider that they are causing harm
while they acting to free people from the Empire. Alas, this issue is not
explored.

The Art
Stackpole’s story is really brought to life by the impressive artwork. To begin
with, Timothy Bradstreet is very good at creating artwork that conveys a sense
of menace (like much of his work for White Wolf Game Studio, for example) and
this cover is no exception. Even though Fel looks different inside the comic,
the brilliantly detailed cover helps set the tone for the story, and the kill
symbols showing X- and Y-Wings show right from the beginning that this will not
be another story in which the Imperials simply throw themselves at the Rebels
and conveniently die.

The interior art is also quite impressive. Technology, a particularly important
component of any X-Wing comic, is particularly well done, from the ever-present
X-Wings, to TIE launch racks and life-support systems. A number of scenes take
place in or over cities on Brentaal, and the buildings are depicted well.
Sunsets and sunrises are particularly effective, and one of the best panels of
the story is one of X-Wings and TIE Interceptors flying at each other as the sun
sets over Brentaal.

However, there are a few problems, such as the depiction of people, as their
faces in particular seemed a little disappointing. Most seemed to lack detail or
to be a little chunky. A symbol on the very first page, meant to be the Imperial
symbol, looks exactly like the star of David. Kapp Dendo wears a strange helmet
that he should never have been able to place on his head, and due to the snug
fit of his horns, he should certainly never be able to remove it. In a later
scene Fel’s flight suit had holes in it just before he was to fly, something a
pilot of his experience would be unlikely to overlook, especially considering
TIE craft do not contain their own atmosphere!

For the most part, however, the art was excellent. Imperial Sanctum on
Coruscant, where Pestage seems to spend most of his time lurking, looks exactly
like the kind of place Palpatine would have built. Isard’s chamber, on the other
hand, seems to have been partially inspired by Episode I development art, which
was a very nice touch. The opulence of Isoto and his palace are depicted well,
recalling the luxuries of ancient Rome or Egypt, particularly appropriate given
that Isoto’s debauchery and incompetence recalls certain leaders of those
civilizations.

Major Phennir seems strangely reminiscent of Sting as Feyd-Rautha Harkonen from
the David Lynch version of ‘Dune’. Battles and explosions are depicted well,
even if the starfields don’t look quite right. One combat scene in which the
dialogue and images mesh perfectly is the one in which Fel downs a Y-Wing, a
scene sure to be appreciated by any who have flown against Y-Wings in any
LucasArts game.

Conclusions
An excellent story that is well illustrated and introduces a great new
character. A must buy.